Burkina Faso National Parks
Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa. Burkina Faso is relatively flat with its highest peak only about 2,500 feet above sea level. Most of Burkina Faso can be characterized as tropical savanna; however in the southwest, where the land rises up slightly, there are rolling hills and dense woodlands. The country has a number of lakes and river basins. The largest is the Volta basin with its three rivers – the Black Volta (Mouhoun), Red Volta (Nazinon) and White Volta (Nakanbe) running through the central and western half of Burkina
Burkina Faso has a tropical climate with two distinct seasons. The rainy season which lasts nearly four months between May and September and the dry season between October and June. During the rainy season, Burkina Faso receives nearly 24 inches of rainfall in the northern part of the country where the rainy season is shorter. In the south, Burkina Faso receives around 36 inches of rainfall and the rainy season is a little longer. During the dry season, there is very little, if any, rain and a hot dry wind blows down from the Sahara Desert to the northeast.
The natural wooded grassland of Burkina Faso contains relatively large populations of African elephants for West Africa. Lions, leopards and cape buffalo, cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), caracal, spotted hyena and the African wild dog, one of the continent’s most endangered species, are also found in Burkina Faso, which also has one of the highest density of roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) in West Africa
